How to Call Colombia from the US

To call Colombia from the US, dial 011 + 57 + area code + local number.

Bogotá example: 011 57 601 XXX XXXX (landline). Mobile example: 011 57 310 555 0123 (any Colombian mobile starting 3XX).

The 011 is the US international exit code; 57 is Colombia’s ITU country code. This guide covers the full dialing sequence, the 2021 area code reform, mobile prefixes, Colombia Time, costs, and the WhatsApp reality for US-Colombia business calling.

Step-by-step: how to call Colombia from the US

1. Dial 011 — the US international exit code. Every international call from a US landline or VoIP phone starts here. On a US mobile, you can type + instead (long-press 0).
2. Dial 57 — Colombia’s country code, assigned by the ITU.
3. Dial the 3-digit area code for landlines (601 for Bogotá, 604 for Medellín, etc.) or the 3XX mobile prefix.
4. Dial the 7-digit subscriber number.
5. Press call.

The full number after 011 is always 10 digits for both landlines and mobiles. Colombia completed its migration to a unified 10-digit national format in November 2021.

Shortcut from US mobile or VoIP: replace 011 with +. Save Colombian contacts as +57 601 XXX XXXX and the number works from any device, including when you roam.

Colombian area codes (post-2021 reform)

Colombia’s CRC (Comisión de Regulación de Comunicaciones) mandated a full 10-digit numbering plan, effective November 30, 2021.

Old single-digit area codes gained a 60 prefix. The table below shows what to dial from the US after 011 57:

City / Region	Old code	New NDC	Dial from US
Bogotá + Cundinamarca	1	601	011 57 601 XXX XXXX
Cali, Valle del Cauca, Nariño	2	602	011 57 602 XXX XXXX
Antioquia (Medellín)	4	604	011 57 604 XXX XXXX
Caribbean coast (Barranquilla, Cartagena)	5	605	011 57 605 XXX XXXX
Eje Cafetero (Caldas, Quindío, Risaralda)	6	606	011 57 606 XXX XXXX
Santander, Norte de Santander, Arauca	7	607	011 57 607 XXX XXXX
Amazon + Orinoquía	8	608	011 57 608 XXX XXXX

Important: some older directory listings still show the old single-digit area code. If a Colombian contact gives you a 7-digit number with just “1” for Bogotá, prepend 601 to dial from the US, not 1.

How to call Colombian mobiles from the US

All Colombian mobile numbers begin with 3 followed by two more digits (giving a 3XX prefix), then a 7-digit subscriber number — 10 digits total after the country code.

Carrier	Prefixes
Claro	300, 301, 302, 304, 305, 310, 311, 312, 313
Movistar	315, 316, 317
Tigo / WOM	320, 321, 322, 323
Avantel / others	324, 350

From the US, dial: 011 57 3XX XXX XXXX

There is no trunk prefix to drop — Colombian mobile numbers don’t have a leading 0 in national format, unlike UK numbers.

Colombia Time (COT) — no daylight saving

Colombia observes COT (Colombia Time) = UTC-5 all year. Colombia has never adopted daylight saving time.

This means your offset versus the US shifts depending on US summer/winter:

US time zone	Winter (US standard time)	Summer (US daylight time)
Eastern (ET)	COT = EST (same)	COT = EDT − 1 h
Central (CT)	COT = CST + 1 h	COT = CDT (same)
Mountain (MT)	COT = MST + 2 h	COT = MDT + 1 h
Pacific (PT)	COT = PST + 3 h	COT = PDT + 2 h

Colombian business hours: 8 AM – 6 PM COT, Monday–Friday.

Best calling window from New York: before 5 PM EDT (= 4 PM COT) in summer; before 6 PM EST (= 6 PM COT) in winter.

Calling costs: landline, mobile, and VoIP

Three cost tiers for US-to-Colombia calls:

Legacy carrier (no international plan): $1.99–$3.00 per minute. Most US carriers gate international calling; you may need to enable it in your account settings first.

Carrier international add-on: $5–$15 per month reduces the per-minute rate to $0.10–$0.50 to Colombia. Cost-effective only if you call occasionally.

VoIP (DialPhone and peers): $0.02–$0.10 per minute to Colombian landlines and mobiles. No separate plan required. For sales teams or companies with Colombian suppliers or customers, the break-even versus a carrier plan is typically under 10 minutes per month.

See DialPhone pricing for current Colombia per-minute rates and included-minutes plans. A free trial lets you test call quality to Colombian numbers before committing.

Mobile calling vs. landline — and the WhatsApp reality

Colombian landline penetration is lower than in the US. The majority of Colombian contacts — business and personal — primarily use a mobile number.

Colombian mobile users have very high WhatsApp adoption; many prefer to receive WhatsApp calls over the PSTN for quality and cost reasons. For informal calls to Colombian family or contacts, WhatsApp over Wi-Fi is free and works well.

For business-grade US-Colombia calling, WhatsApp has meaningful limits:

• No STIR/SHAKEN verified caller ID (your Colombian contact cannot confirm your identity)
• No call recording or CRM integration
• Calls drop when the app is in the background
• Not suitable for contact-center inbound queues

A DialPhone business phone line gives you a US number with Colombian termination, full call recording, and an optional bilingual EN/ES AI receptionist — critical for companies fielding inbound calls from both English- and Spanish-speaking Colombian partners.

SMS and business context: US-Colombia trade

Colombia is one of the US’s largest trading partners in Latin America. The US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (FTA) in force since 2012 has grown bilateral trade substantially.

Key US-Colombia business verticals with heavy calling needs:

• Coffee and flowers: Colombia is the #2 global coffee exporter and #1 cut-flower exporter to the US. Miami and New York import hubs communicate daily with Bogotá and Medellín growers.
• Oil and energy: Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol and US energy firms maintain active joint operations.
• Colombian diaspora: an estimated 1.2 million Colombian-Americans, concentrated in Florida, New York, and Texas, generate significant personal calling volume.
• BPO and nearshore services: Colombian call centers serving US companies require verified US caller IDs with low-latency audio — exactly the STIR/SHAKEN-certified path DialPhone provides.

For businesses needing to port existing numbers or add Colombian DID capacity, see the number porting guide.

Common dialing mistakes

• Using the old area code. Dialing 011 57 1 XXX XXXX (old Bogotá code) instead of 011 57 601 XXX XXXX fails since the 2021 reform. Always use the 3-digit NDC.
• Adding a leading 0 that doesn’t exist. Unlike the UK, Colombian numbers in national format don’t start with 0. There’s nothing to drop — just dial 57 + 10-digit number.
• Calling Colombian freephone (01800) from the US. These numbers only work inside Colombia. They’ll either fail or charge international rates.
• Forgetting the COT/EDT offset shift. Colombia doesn’t change clocks. A call at 5 PM EDT reaches Colombia at 4 PM COT — fine. But the same 5 PM call in winter (EST) reaches Colombia at 5 PM COT — also fine. The trap is summer vs. winter arithmetic, especially from the US West Coast.
• Expecting carrier international calling to be enabled. Most US carriers disable international dialing by default. Enable it in your account or use a VoIP line before the first call.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the country code for Colombia? +

Colombia's country code is +57. When dialing from the US, you reach it by dialing the US exit code 011 first, giving the prefix 011 57 before the Colombian area code and local number.

On a mobile or VoIP softphone, you can substitute + for 011, so +57 followed by the number works the same way.

What area code is Bogotá, Colombia? +

Since Colombia's 10-digit numbering reform took effect on November 30, 2021, Bogotá's area code is 601 (formerly just 1). All Colombian fixed-line numbers are now 10 digits in national format.

From the US, dial 011 57 601 XXX XXXX to reach a Bogotá landline.

How do I dial a Colombian mobile from the US? +

Colombian mobile numbers all start with 3 (e.g., 310, 315, 300). Dial 011 + 57 + the 10-digit mobile number. Example: 011 57 310 555 0123.

There is no separate area code for mobiles — the 3XX prefix is both the carrier indicator and part of the subscriber number.

Does Colombia observe daylight saving time? +

No. Colombia stays on Colombia Time (COT, UTC-5) year-round. During US Eastern Standard Time (winter), COT and EST are the same. During US Eastern Daylight Time (summer), Bogotá is 1 hour behind New York.

From the US Pacific coast, Colombia is always 2 hours ahead in summer (PDT) and the same offset as PST in winter.

How much does it cost to call Colombia from the US? +

Traditional US carrier rates without an international plan run $1.99–$3.00 per minute to Colombia. VoIP providers charge $0.02–$0.10 per minute to Colombian landlines and mobiles.

For frequent calls — sales teams, recruiters, or US-Colombia trade relationships — a VoIP plan like DialPhone's business phone pays for itself within the first few hours of use.

Can I call a Colombian toll-free number from the US? +

No. Colombian freephone numbers (starting 01800 in national format) are free only when dialed from inside Colombia. From the US, they either fail to connect or connect at international rates.

Use the company's geographic landline or mobile number instead.

Why is WhatsApp so popular for calls to Colombia? +

WhatsApp has near-universal penetration in Colombia. Most Colombian mobile users prefer to receive WhatsApp calls over the public telephone network because the call quality is better on LTE and the cost to the US caller is zero over Wi-Fi or a data plan.

For personal calls this works well. For business calls — especially when you need call recording, STIR/SHAKEN verified caller ID, or CRM integration — a dedicated VoIP line is the professional-grade choice.

What is the CRC in Colombia? +

The CRC (Comisión de Regulación de Comunicaciones) is Colombia's telecommunications regulator — the equivalent of the FCC in the US. The CRC mandated the 2021 10-digit numbering reform and oversees carrier interconnection, number portability, and spectrum policy.

The CRC website is crcom.gov.co.

Explore more

• How to call the UK from the US — same format, different country code
• Number porting guide — move your existing number to DialPhone
• STIR/SHAKEN explained — why verified caller ID matters for international calls
• DialPhone business phone — US numbers with global termination
• AI receptionist — bilingual EN/ES call handling
• DialPhone pricing